Consular officer question

[TastyCake 232]

For anyone who has already had an interview at the Kiev embassy, I was curious to know if the consular officers are Ukrainian (with knowledge of English, Russian and the Ukrainian language) or do they appear to be from the states and are living in Kiev and have a knowledge of all three languages?  Can anyone with prior experience weigh in?  Thanks in advance.

[Kevin O 3]

The consular officers are all U.S. citizens. They work for the US government, and all have a Top Secret (at least) security clearance.  They're taught Ukrainian if they do not already speak it.

 

Source: I'm a retired consular officer.

[gregcrs2 1,778]

12 minutes ago, TastyCake said:

For anyone who has already had an interview at the Kiev embassy, I was curious to know if the consular officers are Ukrainian (with knowledge of English, Russian and the Ukrainian language) or do they appear to be from the states and are living in Kiev and have a knowledge of all three languages?  Can anyone with prior experience weigh in?  Thanks in advance.

They are US citizen and typically know enough local language.  They also have Ukrainians on staff that speak Ukrainian, Russian, and English.

[VikaShew2017 150]

I had my interview  on  Russian language

[Shiran 1,134]

I heard very little to no Ukrainian language at US Embassy. They spoke Russian with barely noticeable English accent. While it is true that vast majority of Ukrainians are fluent in Russian most of the ones from Kyiv tend to refuse to speak Russian out of principle. We answered in English, and after a few questions CO got a clue and switched to English. 

[RS77 5]

On 6/7/2019 at 10:25 AM, TastyCake said:

For anyone who has already had an interview at the Kiev embassy, I was curious to know if the consular officers are Ukrainian (with knowledge of English, Russian and the Ukrainian language) or do they appear to be from the states and are living in Kiev and have a knowledge of all three languages?  Can anyone with prior experience weigh in?  Thanks in advance.

It's most typical they will ask the applicant how she communicates with you, and if she says English they will try to complete the interview in English.